It is known to provide a body for receiving a plurality of battery cells that are appropriately connected to provide the required voltage and power for a vehicle, such as an electrically powered vehicle or hybrid vehicle. A continuing problem with such arrangements is that they take up space and add weight to the vehicle. A second problem is that heat is generated within the battery cells which must be extracted efficiently.
It is an aim of the present invention to increase the energy that may be stored in a given volume (or decrease the volume required for a given amount of stored electrical energy.) A second aim is to increase the efficiency of heat extraction from the battery cells.